Trouble on the Paradise
by Thebobmaster
Summary: A young woman on the newly repopulated colony of Eden Prime is caught in the middle of a vicious attack, becoming the sole survivor of the colony. Picked up by the passing "Paradise", she attempts to get the assistance of the commanding officer.
1. Chapter 1

Foreword: Just as a note, this is not intended to follow canon perfectly. There will be some differences, hopefully all minor, between what happens in the story and what has been proven to be able to happen in-game. If this is a problem with you, you would probably be better off with a different fanfic. However, if you notice something huge that goes completely against something major in-game, rather than something that was mentioned in one line in the game, please do not hesitate to inform me. Also, I do not own the rights to Mass Effect. If I did, this would probably be a lot truer to the games. Also, I'd be a lot richer than I am.

**Trouble in Paradise**

The year was 2285. It had been more than 100 years since the famed human Spectre Shepard had visited Eden Prime. He was retired, no surprise, his age considered. "But still his legacy remains on this place," thought Sera. He had saved Eden Prime, as few failed to realize. But most of the colony had left the planet long ago. The tragedy that struck was too much for them to get over.

"Shame, that," Sera murmured. "Still, had they not left, we would not be here." No one was around to listen, but she didn't care. She liked it like this; alone, no one to bother her. She sat down, looking at the sunrise. She was on patrol. She knew why. No enemies were expected, but patrol was still a handy way to get someone out of the village. Why they wanted Sera out today, who knew. They just gave her a pistol, food supplies, and told her to get lost. They did it politely, of course.

Shrugging, she stood up again with an irritated sigh. Well, it was time to "patrol". Patrolling basically involved Sera, walking around in her black armor and helmet like an idiot, her body getting hot in the sun. It was fall. Early fall, in fact the first day of fall, but there was still no reason for the day to be this hot! She would walk out 18 miles east, then another 18 back. It would take all day. Well, no time like the present to get started.

She headed out east, walking through the green grass growing up to her knees. Not many trees. There was just grass, the blue sky, and yellow sun. It looked just like Earth. Or so Sera assumed, seeing as she had never been to Earth. She had only heard about it through word of mouth. After 6 hours of walking at 3 miles an hour, she sat down underneath one of the few trees. She removed her helmet to ingest the food she had been given, eating carefully, but not wasting any time, either. Her black hair flowed around her face briefly, her glowing light blue eyes looking over the landscape. Finishing with her rations, she put the helmet back on. She wasn't supposed to keep the helmet off for too long. Regulations and personal safety were both part of it. Besides, her pale skin sunburned too quickly to expose herself to the air too much.

Turning back to view the village, she stood there for close to half an hour. She couldn't help it, not really. The view was…well, beautiful was the only word that described it. Even in the hot noon sun, she couldn't help but stand and look out. All that green grass, blowing in a weak wind. The blue sky was shining bright with the sun's rays, without a single cloud for at least 20 miles. Her village was just a distant black dot, barely visible despite holding close to a million inhabitants. It was a village only in architecture, a city in population. About 100 years behind the rest of the galaxy, that described her city-village perfectly. Still, if it meant a view like this, she wasn't complaining.

Shaking her head, she started walking back. There was no time for her to reminisce. They would want her back before dark, and with a 6 hour walk, she needed to hurry. She could admire the view later that night. But right now, she needed to go back and report the obvious. "No disturbances, sir. We can sleep safe tonight," she said to herself, mocking the report she knew she would give, complete with a mock salute. "Thank you, ma'am. Dismissed," she said in a baritone voice. The chief of the village acted like they were in the military sometimes. He wasn't serious about it, though. At least, she hoped he wasn't. If so, it was only a matter of days before her "court-martial". She chuckled at the image.

Heading back to the village, she went through the path she had made for herself earlier. While she wouldn't get lost as long as she saw the village, she still wanted to make sure she hurried back. And the quickest way back was the way she had come from. Even then, however, she barely made it back while the sun was still over the horizon. Still a bit out of breath, she looked back. Why did she look back? There was nothing. There was always nothing, no one.

Still, something bothered her, something out of the ordinary. Why she felt like this, she didn't know. But something was wrong. She knew it. She stared at the horizon. To her surprise, she saw a figure standing there… a lost clan member, perhaps? She couldn't tell, with the sun at the figure's back, but she aimed to find out. She walked toward the figure, but after only ten steps, she saw more figures, running toward the colony. Many more figures, in fact. Her eyes widening, she ran back toward the colony, heading to the chief. "Dad…I mean, sir!"

He looked at her. "What now, Sera?"

"I think we are being invaded!" she panted.

"Listen to me, Sera. There is no reason for anyone to invade us. We haven't bothered anyone for 25 years, other than getting supplies from the Citadel."

She tried again. "But-"

"Sera!" He said sternly. "Stop this nonsense!"

She turned around, leaving the building in frustration. She suddenly felt searing pain in her stomach. She grunted painfully, grabbing her stomach and feeling wet warmth spread across her palm. Only then did the sound of the pistol held by an invader reach her ears. She reacted quickly, falling to the ground in feigning unconsciousness. As expected, the invaders left her alone. She heard screams, gunshots, then crackling flames and explosions. She didn't dare move, though. If she moved…who knew what would happen to her?

Cracking open her eyes, she looked around carefully. The invaders were leaving. Obviously, they had done what they came here for. She stood silently, holding her stomach as the bloodstain slowly spread. She stumbled into the city center, and then headed to the communications center. The person in charge there was dead, she saw, shot in the chest. But the radio was still intact. She switched it on.

"Hello, can anyone hear me?" she gasped. "I…we…need assistance. Please, if any ships are around, please bring medics. We are on Eden Prime, the colony of Rayya. We were invaded…" she could feel the blackness closing around her, but tried to ignore it. "…We were attacked…I think…the others are…in serious need of…medical... medical assistance. If you can spare…spare any help…" She slipped to the ground. If they couldn't hear her…she shut her eyes and lost consciousness with that last thought.

After what seemed like an eternity, Sera heard voices in the darkness. Concentrating hard, she forced her eyes open. Looking around, she saw a gray-haired, young man standing over her in a lab coat. "Doctor, where am I?"

The doctor looked at her. "Good, you're awake. You are on board the _Paradise_. We heard your distress signal and picked you up. You know, you are one lucky quarian."

"Did the others make it, Doctor?" She shut her eyes, knowing what the answer would be.

"I'm afraid not. Looks like you were the only survivor. What happened there?"

"It was them, Doctor. It was the geth."

The doctor looked at her steadily. "Are you sure you didn't hallucinate? Maybe your infection made you see something other than what was there."

Sera got up, holding her stomach and looking around, trying to get a hold of her temper before she opened her mouth. There was lots of gray metal around in the form of sinks, counters, and trays. What wasn't gray was a clear glass window looking out at the elevator on the ship, or a mirror to see just how horribly scarred the patient was, she guessed. Those trays seemed to hold every tool for operations that may be necessary. Obviously, they valued functionality over looking good. And where the hell were those damned pain meds?! "My infection is minor. Our immune systems have made great progress in the last 100 years. I'd expect a doctor to realize that. Just because we still wear suits doesn't mean we get infections serious enough to hallucinate mere minutes after we get shot." Ah, under the sink, in a locked cabinet. Well, the doctor might have a key. Would have a key, but let's see if she can convince him to give her something.

The doctor looked at her, now a bit annoyed. "You have no idea who I am, do you? My name is Doctor Cha-"

Sera looked at the doctor in annoyance, locking eyes with him and silencing him. "I know exactly who you are. Your name is on your desk. And I know exactly who your mother was as well. Take me to your commanding officer."

The doctor looked at Sera. "The commanding officer is busy, and she can't make time for a sick quarian. If you know who I am, and who my mother was, than you should understand that my commanding officer cannot just take time for anyone."

Sera breathed deeply repeatedly, trying to calm herself down. "Doctor Chakwas, take me to CO Shepard, the Spectre. This is important. The fate of the galaxy may be at risk. Just like it was a hundred years ago with the Reapers. What happens if you cut off a snake's head, Doctor?"

He looked at Sera. "Then it is unable to fight, but writhes around trying to anyways."

Sera nodded. "My point exactly. The geth are a one million strong army, writhing about. How much damage do you think that writhing could cause?"

Doctor Chakwas stared at her for several minutes. "…I can only give you five minutes, guaranteed."

Sera nodded. "That's all the time I'll need. Send her here. But first, I need one thing."

He looked at her. "And what would that be?"

Sera smiled behind her mask. "Pain meds. My stomach is really starting to ache."

Doctor Chakwas nodded, taking out his key and rapidly opening the locked cabinet, grabbing the pain meds and relocking the cabinet before she would be able to grab anything by force. Clearly, he was a professional, she thought. Walking over, she took the meds, injecting a dose into her arm. Rapidly, the hot flare in her stomach was subdued into a dull ache.

She shrugged. "Well, I guess I'll live. Now, take me to Shepard. We only have four minutes."


	2. Chapter 2

Foreword: Just as a note, this is not intended to follow canon perfectly. There will be some differences, hopefully all minor, between what happens in the story and what has been proven to be able to have happen in-game. If this is a problem with you, you would probably be better off with a different fanfic. However, if you notice something huge that goes completely against something major in-game, rather than something that was mentioned in one line in the game, please do not hesitate to inform me. Also, I do not own the rights to Mass Effect. If I did, this would probably be a lot truer to the games. Also, I'd be a lot richer than I am.

**Trouble in Paradise**

After another minute dwindled away, Sera stood in front of the door, watching as Doctor Chakwas discussed with Shepard out of view. When he walked out, a curt nod was his response to her questioning glance. Apparently, he was still a bit sore over her insulting his doctor skills. Chakwas must be a great doctor, if he took it that seriously. Steeling herself, Sera walked into the room.

Commander Chase Shepard turned to face Sera, blond hair falling over one bright blue eye, a green one staring at Sera. "You must be Sera," Chase said. "Commander Shepard."

Sera tried not to show emotion, but her eyes widened at the commander's greeting. No one had ever mentioned her name before her species, unless they were also quarian. "That…That's correct," she said. "Sera'Zarda."

Chase frowned slightly. "Your full name is…?"

Sera looked down. "That is my full name. I'm a colonist."

Chase leaned back. "Of course. No ship, nothing to be the child of or crew of. Now, what happened to you? How did you end up with that gut shot?"

Sera sat on a chair. "We were attacked by geth. I don't know why. We made our peace with them."

Chase looked at her. "Are you sure it was geth responsible?"

Sera smirked. "First off, I'm a quarian. Do you think that I'm incapable of recognizing a geth? Secondly, the flashlight forehead is…a slight giveaway."

Chase shook her head. "You were attacked and razed by an army. You think geth could have the brainpower for that? Especially after what my grandmother did a while back with the geth space station."

Sera tilted her head back. "Well, that was a big station. But it was not the only one. Geth have multiple uplinks all over. Take one out, and you take out quite a few geth. But taking all of them out won't happen. So it wasn't 'the' geth station. Just one of them. Still, you raise a good point. But who would have it out for the quarians?"

Chase frowned. "I don't know. I'll be honest, I don't have any idea. But I want to find out. And I will find out." Chase leaned back, the next sentence casual in form, but not impact. "I always do, for my crew."

Sera's eyes widened further. "Crew? You are offering me a position on the ship?"

Chase nodded. "Engineering needs some help. Between you and me, Mrs. Donnelly has nowhere near the skills of her parents. Assuming my grandmother wasn't exaggerating their talents. And quarians can be quite talented with machinery."

Sera nodded. "I accept your offer. But I'm not just handy with engines. That's a quarian thing, not a Sera thing. I'm quite skilled with a pistol as well."

Chase smiled. "Then welcome aboard, Sera'Zarda vas Normandy."

Sera tilted her head to the side. "No Pilgrimage needed for the 'vas'? Or are you unfamiliar with quarian naming traditions?"

Chase smiled. "You had your village razed, got shot in the stomach, and watched everyone you knew died. I'd say you had a lot of growing up done quite quickly. And isn't that what the Pilgrimage is all about?"

Sera nodded. "I did, at that. Thank you, Commander. Hope most Pilgrimages aren't that…grueling." She turned, heading to the elevator and heading down to engineering. Once there, she looked over the engines, a dismayed look on her face. What had the engineer used to fix the engine? A pistol? You're supposed to fix engines, not make them worse! She started to work on the engine, repairing the errors, all 56 of them that she saw. Unfortunately, she had a hand grab her shoulder and turn her around after only 17 repairs. "What are you doing, quarian? You aren't crew!" The tall, thin woman glared into Sera's bright eyes with her dark green ones, red hair in a tight ponytail.

Sera gazed back, not remotely troubled by the gaze. "I am crew, actually. Sera'Zarda vas Normandy. I was told to work on the engine."

"Natascha Donnelly." She let go. "Sorry, I'm a bit zealous about my job."

Sera nodded. "Good. I like to see that. But zealous doesn't always make up for lack of talent. I spotted 56 errors made. I've fixed 17."

Donnelly looked at her, arms crossed. "Are you saying that I'm incapable of doing my job?"

Sera crossed her arms. "You got sloppy, that's all. I'll show you how to best do it."

Donnelly frowned. "You mean how quarians do it?"

Sera nodded. "We are the best at mechanical stuff. That's not boasting. It's a fact."

While Sera had her "friendly" chat with Donnelly, attempting to get her to see things mechanical the quarian way, Chase leaned back, thinking. "Poor girl," Chase thought. Chase then turned to the computer, thinking, setting it to scan around for Geth stations. That would take a couple of hours. Heading to the bed, Chase laid down. Chase usually was friendly, cordial, but had taken in Sera. That was unusual. Maybe it was Sera's snarky attitude. Maybe it was just feeling bad for her. But Chase had adopted her, like a puppy…or a daughter that she would never have. Chase had no intention of actually giving birth at any time in her life, after all. No, Sera was crew, that's all. Right place, right time. Right?

After a two hour search, the computer beeped. Heading over, she looked at the results. Well, that explained how the geth blitzed without warning, in a way. She headed to the intercom. "Found a Geth station, Rusty." She read him the coordinates.

"OK, first off, that's Steve Restan. Rusty was my nickname in flight school. One crash, and you never live it down. Secondly, I see the coordinates…but isn't that…"

"You're right. 3 units away from Eden Prime. Far enough out of range of their radar to avoid detection. Not too far away for a blitz style attack."

There was a pause on the intercom. "That's funny, Commander. It's almost as if you think they could have planned that attack themselves."

Chase hit her head against the wall. She would have said something, but what she was thinking was not a good way to speak to your pilot.

"I heard that thump, Commander. What stupid thing did I say this time?"

Chase looked at the intercom. "Did I say that the geth planned it? All I said was that the station was in the right place. You assumed that I was an idiot, and thought the geth were smart enough to strategize and execute a blitz attack. They have someone pulling the strings, obviously.. And I intend to find out who the puppetmaster is, then take out my scissors and cut them loose."

"Yeah. Nice metaphor, Commander. Of course, if this is a trap, which it very well could be considering that, you know, they have no stealth systems engaged-"

"Rus-Look. I know this could easily be a trap. But it could also be a lead. Just take us in. How long will it take?"

"Aye, aye, Captain. ETA, 30 minutes."

"And don't bother with the stealth shields, Rusty. Geth don't use windows." Chase rubbed her forehead. "Also, tell Chakwas to send up some pain relievers. I have a migraine."


	3. Chapter 3

"Yes, Commander. Walls do tend to hurt heads." With that, the intercom switched off.

_Thirty minutes later…_

Chase stepped off of the ship, entering the geth station. Looking around through her helmet, she watched Sera step off the ship after her. Chase was not comfortable letting Sera go on this station, and not just because of her inexperience. She was a quarian. She might "accidentally" damage valuable data out of hatred of the geth. But Sera had refused to stay behind. Still, one last try couldn't hurt.

"Sera. Listen to me. This is a dangerous mission. It's no time for you to go in to get revenge. Especially when you are still recovering from that wound."

Sera stared at Chase, her facemask opaque, hiding her expression. "With all due respect, I need this. I need to show these mechanical bastards that they cannot get away with this."

Chase shook her head. "And what if you damage something? Something that could tell us who is behind this attack? A computer, for example?"

"Trust me, I'll be careful, Commander. I am not sloppy. Unless I am allowed to be." Ending the conversation, Sera walked past the commander, heading into the base.

After an hour and a half of searching, Chase stopped. "Sera, there's something wrong. It's too-"

"Quiet," Sera finished. "We've barely fought any geth, and found no data. They aren't intelligent enough to hide. So where are all the geth?" Spotting a terminal, Sera went to work hacking it. As soon as she did, an explosion rang out in the next room, causing Sera to stumble back in shock. "What was that?" Answering her question, the doors opened, revealing 20 geth to each Chase and Sera. Glancing at each other, Sera and Chase immediately dove behind cover as the geth fired on them.

Holding up her pistol, Sera panted. "This was a trap. Just like…" She stopped talking. No, this was not the time to revisit Eden Prime. She could save that mourning for times of safety, not danger. Standing briefly, Sera fired 3 times. Her boasts about her pistol skills were proven accurate, as all three demolished the heads of 3 geth, causing them to fall in sparks of electricity.

Chase nodded in response to Sera's comment. "And I do hate deception. It usually ends in me being attacked." Reaching to her back, she pulled out a shotgun, shooting a geth that got a little too close in the chest, sending it to the ground into two pieces. "This is pointless. We need to get out."

"Wait," said Sera, opening her omni-tool, and then reaching up to activate the terminal, standing in order to accurately scan the data, completely focused on the monitor.

Chase's eyes widened. "Are you insane? You are going to hack that thing with 37 geth shooting at us?"

"36," replied Sera, not looking up. "And we need the info."

Gritting her teeth, Chase pulled out her SMG, standing and firing at the geth. She wasn't really aiming. Just distracting the geth. Not even glancing at the geth, Sera didn't flinch as an energy blast scorched the steel wall inches from her head. The encryption was fairly complex. Six…no, seven layers involved for the encryption, but even then, everything was scrambled. Sera smiled inside her helmet despite the danger around her. She did enjoy a challenge, after all. After what seemed like an eternity, Sera turned off her omni-tool and ran for the ship, the scrambled data on her omni-tool, ignoring Chase's warnings. Out of pure luck, none of the remaining 30 geth seemed to hit Sera. Chase wouldn't be so lucky, she knew. She prepared to stand, aiming her shotgun at the geth. At that moment, however, all the geth shut down, clattering to the steel ground in separate piles. Puzzled, Chase got back onto the ship, where Sera was standing, her head tilted to the side, leaning on the wall, arms crossed. "Like my trick?"

Chase went right up to her, her fists flexing as she narrowed her eyes. "You could have been shot or killed with that stunt you pulled! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Straightening up from the cocky slouch she had been in, Sera stared Chase right in the eyes, her own eyes narrowed through her face mask. "I was shot, actually. It's just a flesh wound. But it was worth the risk. It worked, didn't it?"

Chase's eyes narrowed even further. "Show me the wound." She raised her hand as Sera started to speak. "It's not an option, Sera. It's an order."

Sera looked away, staring at the floor. "Not gonna happen. I'll treat it on my own."

Chase's frown deepened. "I said-"

Sera looked back up at her commander. "I know what you said! I'm not deaf. But the wound is…"

Chase grabbed Sera by the shoulders, not completely gently, her eyes blazing into Sera's. "How serious is it?"

Sera didn't move, her hands twisting together to show her nervousness.. "A flesh wound, like I said. It's just in an…awkward place to have examined, if you get my meaning."

Chase stared at her, and then started chuckling despite the seriousness of the matter. "Are you telling me that you got shot in the ass running? Well, at least it wasn't your neck or back."

Sera nodded, looking away in embarrassment. "Still, I got the data. Let's get it looked at and unscrambled. That is what we came on that station to do, correct?"

Chase nodded to Sera's question. "And the sooner we take a look, the better." Taking Sera to her quarters, she sat down. Sera, however, remained standing due to her wound. "What do you have, Sera?"

Sera looked at her omni-tool. "Give me a few moments." Focusing on her omni-tool, she tapped a few keys, tilting her head to the side. "Interesting…it's some sort of corrupted message. From what I can see, there was some sort of signal sent from Feros a few minutes before the attack on Eden Prime."

Chase nodded. "Then Feros is our next stop. Is there any way to track where on Feros that signal came from?"

Sera looked at her. "I believe I can narrow it down further, given time. How long until we reach Feros?"

Chase leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. "I'd say…3 hours."

Sera crossed her arms. "That's an awfully long time to wait. I can finish the tracking in one. What am I supposed to do with the last two? I can't even sit and twiddle my thumbs, as you humans say, thanks to my…condition."

Chase shrugged. "Sorry to hear you feel that way. But I can't speed up time just to get you your revenge." She looked back at Sera. "Listen to me, Sera. You've been shot once already. It was just a flesh wound. You got lucky. Next time, you might not be."

Sera looked down briefly, but then looked back up. "This was the second time, remember? And I was more injured the first time. This was, as you said, a flesh wound. I'm not going to stop my hunt, ever. I know you want me to stay behind, but I need to go with you to investigate. This is my mission as much as yours, if not even moreso. You could throw me off this ship, and I'd still find a way to continue my hunt. Either I'll die, or the person responsible for the attack will."

Chase nodded. "Fair enough. I can't fault your conviction. I just…don't want to see you hurt again, Sera. And it's my job, as your commander, to make sure that you don't get hurt. Or die."

Sera looked up. "I understand, Shep-Commander." Turning, she headed into the elevator, going to her own private quarters to tend to her wound.

Chase turned on the intercom. "Set course for Feros. I think the path is starting to clear up for us."

"Aye, aye, Captain," said Rusty's voice from the cockpit. "And what do you mean, 'us'? I'm just taking you around. I ain't getting off this ship. You can get shot. I'll take your body home if you want. But I'm not about to get myself shot. That's why I fly, and you shoot."

"I wasn't talking about you, Rusty. I was referring to Ser-the quarian. She needs to know what happened, and we are getting closer to finding out."

"Careful, Captain. You are starting to get a bit casual with our temporary passenger, aren't you? I mean, she's going to get her answers, you'll take her to the Citadel, and that will be that."

Chase nodded. "Of course, Rusty. This is just a temporary set-up. But that doesn't mean I can't get to know her while she is on my crew."

"'Get to know her'? Is that what they're calling it now?" Rusty chuckled, then continued before Chase could make a snide comment. "Point taken, Commander. 'Out of line', 'stripped of rank', 'court-martialed'. I apologize. Mouth operates faster than brain."


End file.
